1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to authentication systems generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel identification strip reader that can be employed to read such strips on both cards and containers.
2. Background Art
Bar codes are used universally for identification and information purposes. A widely known such use is with point-of-sale bar code readers which are used primarily to identify an article and its sales price. Recently, compound diffraction gratings have been developed for identification and information purposes, since the use of such gratings greatly reduces the possibility of forgery or unauthorized copying. Examples of such gratings are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/115,412, filed Aug. 31, 1993, by David J. Horan and James S. Bianco, and titled SECURE OPTICAL IDENTIFICATION METHOD AND MEANS, the disclosure of which application is incorporated by reference hereinto.
One setting in which such identification means may be employed is in the authentication of goods as diverse as name brand watches, garments, and packaged computer programs, for example. These are goods that are frequently counterfeit and the counterfeiting is of such quality that detection of the same by visual inspection is difficult even by knowledgeable persons.
To combat such counterfeiting, a watch or a garment may have a tag attached thereto having a relatively narrow identification strip thereon, the strip including a diffraction grating and/or bar code encoded with authentication information. Decoding of the information determines whether or not the item is genuine. Similarly, the carton containing the computer program disks and instructions may have a relatively narrow identification strip attached thereto underneath the cellophane typically encasing the carton.
Because of the narrowness of the identification strips, reading thereof with a typical hand-held scanner is difficult, since imprecise alignment of the beam with the strips can result in inaccurate decoding.
A need exists for apparatus to conveniently and accurately read such identification strips on both tags and cartons.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide apparatus for reading identification strips on both card substrates and cartons.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such an apparatus that is conveniently used.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such an apparatus that is economically constructed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.